WORK FOR WEDGWOOD, 1775-1787
s strong. The sentimentality is characteristic of Flaxman
iimself; but the pseudo-realistic types, the elaborate
iffectation of the draperies, the attempt to represent sea
ind cloud in marble, the turgid design, and the excessive
•elief which makes the figures look as though they are
*lued to the wall, are all an inheritance from the last
jtages of the baroque.
Less ambitious and more successful was the monument
:o the Rev. Thomas Ball and his wife in Chichester
Cathedral, the model for which was exhibited at the
Royal Academy in 1785, and the finished bas-relief in
marble in 1786. This represents, within an oval frame,
an angel comforting a mourning woman. Again exag-
gerated sentiment is the keynote ; but the grouping of
the figures is simpler and more impressive than in the
Morley monument, the handling less affected, and the
relation of relief to background better managed. The
restraining effect of contact with the antique and of
Wedgwood's discipline is evident